Younger female posties getting treated differently

[Rumple]

This is an outrage! Everyone knows it's only middle-aged male posties who should get preferential treatment!

You, me or anybody else should not get preferential treatment. The seniority system is the fairest way for everyone.

It's certainly the fairest way for middle-aged males like me.

Yes it is. And younger males and females , and older females and males . Gender and age have nothing to do with seniority.

[DGH]

Yes it is. And younger males and females , and older females and males . Gender and age have nothing to do with seniority.

Really?

What percentage of your office are female? What percentage of females are in the top half of the seniority list? For most offices the former percentage will be growing rapidly while the latter is negligible.

Seniority was possibly the least-worst way way back when most people joined in their teens or early twenties and worked for RM until retirement and where, while walks were certainly uneven, the working culture was such that that was mitigated to a fair extent. That model is essentially defunct: though there's obviously a 'legacy' of large numbers of (mostly) middle-aged males who now benefit from that currently, newer staff will never do so (this coupled to the fact that we senior staff have allowed them to be lumbered with worse T&Cs than we have).

[Rumple]

Yes it is. And younger males and females , and older females and males . Gender and age have nothing to do with seniority.

Really?

What percentage of your office are female? What percentage of females are in the top half of the seniority list? For most offices the former percentage will be growing rapidly while the latter is negligible.

To have 50% men in the top half of the seniority list is impossible for the obvious reason (you'd need at least 25% of staff to be women for that to happen, but that would then leave the bottom half of seniority being all male).
And positive discrimination is still discrimination. I believe in equal opportunity not forced equal outcome.

[Interested-seeker]

Just to even things out...

I'm female. I've been working for Royal Mail for nearly three years. I'm a reserve and know 14 delivery rounds (due to learn two more soon) and 3 collections. I never get rotating days and I have had to lodge grievances in the past to get Saturdays off.

Guy who started year ago knows two rounds, had guaranteed full time hours on the same delivery for most of the year as well as rotational days off.

I do think it is unfair...but I don't hold anything against my co-worker. It is up to my manager.

[datasaint]

I think RM are keen for women to stay in the business as it bumps their diversity figures up so they get slightly better treated to keep them on. I also think they take the view women are less likely to be as militant and union led about changes.

As the post above suggests also they get often selected for positions over men like callers office (customer facing) because it creates a good impression of the company.

[Ren Hoëk]

I think RM are keen for women to stay in the business as it bumps their diversity figures up so they get slightly better treated to keep them on. I also think they take the view women are less likely to be as militant and union led about changes.

As the post above suggests also they get often selected for positions over men like callers office (customer facing) because it creates a good impression of the company.

Everything you have just said there is NOK gender discrimination. It's also just as insulting to the woman as it is frustrating for the men.

[datasaint]

Everything you have just said there is NOK gender discrimination. It's also just as insulting to the woman as it is frustrating for the men.

Why is it insulting, it's all based around valid observations, you only have to look at the businesses approach to exclusively targeting women in the workplace with their "Springboard women's development programme".

https://myfuture.myroyalmail.com/social ... ringboard/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How is that a gender neutral approach?

[Trail]

Didn't you know? The better you are at the job the more crap you get to do.

So true. I used to whistle around every duty I was put on, and as a result when any spare duty came up for a day or two I'd get it dumped on me as I was so f***ing quick.

[Ren Hoëk]

Everything you have just said there is NOK gender discrimination. It's also just as insulting to the woman as it is frustrating for the men.

Why is it insulting, it's all based around valid observations, you only have to look at the businesses approach to exclusively targeting women in the workplace with their "Springboard women's development programme".

https://myfuture.myroyalmail.com/social ... ringboard/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How is that a gender neutral approach?

It's insulting because it creates a separation of ability based on gender. End of. Regardless on what management seems to think is "OK". It is not. Also, Who said these observations are "Valid"? Sounds like more gender discrimination to me.

[k979aaa]

Everything you have just said there is NOK gender discrimination. It's also just as insulting to the woman as it is frustrating for the men.

Why is it insulting, it's all based around valid observations, you only have to look at the businesses approach to exclusively targeting women in the workplace with their "Springboard women's development programme".

https://myfuture.myroyalmail.com/social ... ringboard/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How is that a gender neutral approach?

Springboard has had its day shite managers just because they are women not a good way for a company/business to go need the best not just because they fit the targets but their are some very good female managers it should be on capability not just if you have a Johnson or a split peach .

[Phelim21]

Not just women in our place any new start seems to be put on a duty. I'm only in 3.5 yrs but get pushed from pillar to post because I know few duties. There are staff in longer than me who are in the same position there are duties than haven't been advertised so new starts get put on these long term which is pissing a few of us off. I did speak to the manager about this and he agreed about seniority but nothing was done.

[meercat]

I think RM are keen for women to stay in the business as it bumps their diversity figures up so they get slightly better treated to keep them on. I also think they take the view women are less likely to be as militant and union led about changes.

As the post above suggests also they get often selected for positions over men like callers office (customer facing) because it creates a good impression of the company.

I agree with this statement as RM do need to meet diversity targets and so retain female new starters. How they do that is up to them. The job must be more of a physical challenge for female new starters as they are (generally speaking) carrying a bag which is a higher proportion of their body weight, plus they have lower levels of testosterone so have a less muscular frame and less strength. So in order to reduce the stress of it all on them maybe they do need to stick to a familiar round which helps them out a bit?

If that is right or not I don't know, it discriminates against male new starters yes, but with the reason for that being an attempt to keep a high ratio of women in the job. I'm sure everyone agrees it's great that more women are doing the job now and if they need extra consideration because of their (generally) smaller frame and other biological differences then that seems the right thing to do imo.

[Williagea]

I'm a female postie and when I first started I got put on to a duty and the managers plan was to keep me on it forever essentially, that didnt seem fair to me as lads who had been there much longer were f*cked over regularly. I asked to be put on a proper reserve schedule so that the guys didnt feel like i was getting better treatment because I was female. I dont think women should get easier duties because we tend to be smaller and weaker; the bottom line is, if you cant do the job the same as men, you shouldnt be doing it.
That being said, I dont feel like the seniority system is the best for assigning duties, it means the old men who just stroll around walls taking to everybody get the easy duties whilst the younger people who actually work hard are screwed over. I'd much rather it was done based off of performance or even randomly

[Janet Brum]

So you think when you`ll be an old woman and your body will be failing daily, you would be capable to do a full walk instead of as you said, "just stroll around walls taking to everybody " and have an easier duty?

Seniority has a reason, those old man and women did their share of 20,30 or more years of working in all weather conditions and their bodies are not like a 30 years old anymore.

About being kept on the same duty as a new starter, that`s the norm in Rm to get you used with the job, you have plenty of time to be "f*cked over regularly", female or not.

[Williagea]

So you think when you`ll be an old woman and your body will be failing daily, you would be capable to do a full walk instead of as you said, "just stroll around walls taking to everybody " and have an easier duty?

Seniority has a reason, those old man and women did their share of 20,30 or more years of working in all weather conditions and their bodies are not like a 30 years old anymore.

About being kept on the same duty as a new starter, that`s the norm in Rm to get you used with the job, you have plenty of time to be "f*cked over regularly", female or not.

Theres a difference between being kept on a walk for a few weeks to get used to the company and being kept on a walk for over a year because they think you deserve an easy start because you're a woman. If you're in a physically demanding job you need to deal with the fact that one day you won't be able to keep up; footballers retire when they're too old to run around, it should be no different for us. Otherwise the old useless posties get away with murders whilst the new good posties have to pick up the pieces